lawsuit

You often see disclaimers in videos or games that similarities to real-life people are purely coincidental in a work of fiction. There are times, however, when such content is intentionally designed to bear similarities to real-world people or objects. Sometimes those are products of licensing agreements and partnerships. AM General, the maker of one of the most identifiable military vehicles in the world, wanted something along those lines when it sued Activision for putting Humvees in Call of Duty games. A judge, however, ruled that the game developer has a First Amendment right to do so.

Apple will pay as much as $500 million to settle angry iPhone owners, who had accused the company of secretly throttling their smartphones in early 2017. The controversy was a side-effect of Apple's attempts to work around problems caused by aging batteries, and which had already seen the Cupertino firm discount battery replacements for existing owners.

Patent lawsuits are a matter of life for any tech company and the bigger you are, the bigger the target painted on your back. Many of these lawsuits go unnoticed, especially when filed against giant companies that can make them disappear. Apple, however, wasn't able to win one against the California Institute of Technology and now has to pay the university what is perhaps its biggest patent-related damages sum in its history.

Given how the Apple Watch has been making headlines for saving lives, it's no surprise that it is, pardon the pun, apple picking for those who want to capitalize on its fame or, in this case, have gotten hurt by it. Just before the year ended, Apple was hit by a lawsuit over its unlicensed use of a patent for its atrial fibrillation detection. Now it is getting slapped by an even bigger complaint for stealing trade secrets related to health monitoring on its Apple Watch.

It may look dated and seem a bit overpriced but few smartwatches can make the same life-saving claims that the Apple Watch has. Apple has turned its wearable into more than just a smartphone extension and has outfitted it with features that put the wearer's health at the center. Now one of those features is at the center of litigation claiming that Apple willfully ignored that someone else already patented the much-advertised irregular heartbeat detection it added in recent Apple Watches.

Piracy may be a debated topic in some contexts and regions but there's no escaping the fact that it is illegal in many countries. You may argue all you want against capitalism, fair use, ownership, and other factors but when you're running a large streaming service for pirated content and earning millions from it, it's not really a matter of fighting for the little folk anymore. Perhaps knowing that the gig is up, two men from Las Vegas have pleaded guilty to being part of the country's biggest pirated streaming operation, trying to make a deal for a lesser sentence than they would have been given if convicted.

Apple may have finally changed back (or changed forward) to a more familiar keyboard mechanism in its new MacBook Pro but that doesn't change the past one bit. It is also not enough, apparently, to save the company from having to fight a class-action suit hurled against it over its previous "butterfly" keyboards. It tried to get that case dismissed but was shot down, effectively giving the green light to move the case forward in court. That is if it isn't settled out of it first.

The US government must have "reasonable suspicion of digital contraband" before it can search travelers' phones, laptops, and other electronics, according to a new ruling by a federal court. The decision marks a significant step in data privacy for international travelers, and comes after widespread criticism of CBP and ICE actions at the border.

Network operators have redefined what the word "unlimited" means, or at least as it applies to data. What they really meant was limited unlimited data that incurred consequences once you hit certain conditions. That may be common practice but AT&T may have tried to get away with it until the FTC slapped it with a lawsuit. Now five years later, the major US carrier has decided to just pay the fine, long after the case could have any significant effect in the industry.

It's almost hard to believe that it has been half a decade since the very first benchmark cheating scandal erupted in the mobile market. That has caused no small amount of drama and for benchmark suites to defend their territory, make changes, and blacklist certain phones. Unknown or forgotten to many, one such result of that media circus was a lawsuit against Samsung revolving around the 2013 Galaxy S4. That case has now been settled but it is one case where "better late than never" doesn't really apply.

Nintendo just launched its oddest Switch barely a little over a week ago and it's already in a bit of a bind. Depending on who you ask, it's either the perfect Switch on the go or a total waste of time. But market opinions and sales numbers may have nothing on the technical and legal problems the smaller handheld might have. Confirming fears, the Switch Lite may indeed be plagued by the notorious Joy-Con drift and it is joining the class action lawsuit its larger sibling is involved in.

Amazon's audiobook company Audible is being sued by publishers over its plan to offer AI-powered captions. Five major publishing houses are behind the lawsuit, including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, which filed their complaint with the Southern District Court of New York. The 'Captions' feature was revealed by Audible in July.